No signing day? No problem for Rich Rodriguez

Posted by Kevin McGuire on June 9, 2014, 9:31 PM EDT

Echoing some of the thoughts of Nebraska head coach Bo Pelini, Arizona head coach Rich Rodriguez says the lack of a specific signing day in college football may not be a terrible idea. With the topic of an early signing period one of the hot topics this summer, Rodriguez admitted to being caught off guard when reading Pelini’s idea to remove national signing day. After some time to reflect on the idea though, Rodriguez is hopping aboard the bandwagon captained by Pelini.

“I’ve been thinking about that ever since I read Bo’s comments,” he told SiriusXM College Sports Network. “I’m thinking, boy, that’s really way out there, and then after I started thinking about it, I thought, you know what? That makes a whole lot more sense than anything I’ve heard of. You say, ‘What happens if you offer freshmen or sophomores?’ That’s on both sides, whether it’s the school offering or the kid and his family deciding to take it. I’ve got to look at all the scenarios and ramifications, but when you think, what’s different than a kid talented in music or arts and he signs a recording contract, or he’s an actor and he signs a contract with an agency when he’s a 15-year-old kid?

“It’s whenever he gets offered and whenever he chooses to sign. If you think about it, it probably makes a whole lot more sense than anything else we’re doing. You could make a rule where maybe you can’t offer until he’s completed his junior year or sophomore year. The more I think about it, the more it makes a lot more sense than some of this other stuff we’re doing.”

Last week Pelini suggested removing National Signing Day in an effort to cut down on the hype and the hoopla that comes with the first Wednesday in February. Allowing schools to sign recruits as soon as the students are ready to commit would help prgrams know exactly where their respective recruiting classes stand at any given time as well, making Pelini’s idea an interesting one, although there still has to be some sort of way to govern when a recruit may sign a letter of intent.

The difference is that talented 15-year-old musician or actor is signing a PROFESSIONAL contract, not one as an “amateur” (whatever that means anymore) and not one as a player on a team sport. Still, I do think Rich Rod is right in that schools should not be allowed to sign kids to(or even offer) scholarships until their junior year at earliest. The whole circus that has become National Signing Day has become a travesty.

motobus says:Jun 10, 2014 7:27 AM

“…what’s different than a kid talented in music or arts and he signs a recording contract, or he’s an actor and he signs a contract with an agency when he’s a 15-year-old kid?”